Analysis of The Assault Heroic
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
Down in the mud I lay,
Tired out by my long day
Of five damned days and nights,
Five sleepless days and nights,…
Dream-snatched, and set me where
The dungeon of Despair
Looms over Desolate Sea,
Frowning and threatening me
With aspect high and steep—
A most malignant keep.
My foes that lay within
Shouted and made a din,
Hooted and grinned and cried:
“Today we’ve killed your pride;
Today your ardour ends
We’ve murdered all your friends;
We’ve undermined by stealth
Your happiness and your health.
We’ve taken away your hope;
Now you may droop and mope
To misery and to Death.”
But with my spear of Faith,
Stout as an oaken rafter,
With my round shield of laughter,
With my sharp, tongue-like sword
That speaks a bitter word,
I stood beneath the wall
And there defied them all.
The stones they cast I caught
And alchemized with thought
Into such lumps of gold
As dreaming misers hold.
The boiling oil they threw
Fell in a shower of dew,
Refreshing me; the spears
Flew harmless by my ears,
Struck quivering in the sod;
There, like the prophet’s rod,
Put leaves out, took firm root,
And bore me instant fruit.
My foes were all astounded,
Dumbstricken and confounded,
Gaping in a long row;
They dared not thrust nor throw.
Thus, then, I climbed a steep
Buttress and won the keep,
And laughed and proudly blew
My horn, “Stand to! Stand to!
Wake up, sir! Here’s a new
Attack! Stand to! Stand to!”
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKLMMNOPPQRSSTTUUVVWWXXYYEETTTT |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (34%) |
Metre | 100111 1011111 111101 110101 110111 010101 1101001 1001001 11101 010101 111101 100101 100101 011111 01111 110111 10111 1100011 1100111 111101 1100011 111111 111110 1111110 111111 110101 110101 010111 011111 0111 011111 110101 010111 1001011 010101 110111 1100001 110101 111111 011101 1101010 10010 100011 111111 111101 100101 010101 111111 111101 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,415 |
Words | 257 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 50 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,083 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 252 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 50 Views
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"The Assault Heroic" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31172/the-assault-heroic>.
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